Entertainment
Failure has made me stronger, says Sean Paul (IANS Interview)
By Natalia Ningthoujam
New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) Grammy Award-winning Jamaican rapper Sean Paul became a global star after his second album “Dutty Rock” hit the music stores in 2002. While his dancehall-oriented numbers often topped the charts, there were times when he also faded from prominence. But he believes that failure makes people stronger, and that’s what it has done to him.
Paul’s monstrous hits like “Get busy” (2003) and “Temperature” (2006) enjoyed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It was only a decade later that he regained the top position with singer Sia’s “Cheap thrills”.
Asked about coping with low point in his career, Paul told IANS in an email interview: “I feel you need failures to grow and succeed. They say that failures make you stronger. And that’s what it has done to me. If I have failed so I have gotten up, learnt from it and got my a** back moving towards my goal.”
Apart from Sia, he has also collaborated with artistes like Beyonce Knowles, Santana, Joss Stone, Enrique Iglesias and Clean Bandit.
“I usually go by something I like. So if I like the song and the content, I go for it. And collaborating with artistes, gives a different feel also as they come with their own genre too. So it just adds up to the music all the more,” he said.
On his best collaboration, he said: “This would be quite difficult but yes, ‘Baby boy’ with Beyonce, ‘Cheap thrills’ with Sia and ‘Rockabye’ with Clean Bandit are some of the best collaborations. Also, if you see via top 10 Billboard (songs).”
Paul, born as Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques in 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica, is one of the artistes who has made dancehall, mostly characterised by fast rhythms, popular across the globe. While cemented in reggae and dancehall from his home country, Paul maintains a global presence with numerous collaborations in genres such as EDM and pop.
Is he happy with the cocktail of genres or does it annoy him as dancehall loses its authenticity?
“Yes, see at times it does. But then it’s cool because people who know what dancehall is they know and people who don’t know they still love my music so either way I’m on benefit,” he said.
People love his music in India and he is set to return to the country and raise the “temperature” this year. Why did it take him six years to perform in India again?
“I was preparing myself for the Indian audience once again with something completely different this time compared to last time. And I will be back with a bang this time,” he promised.
“India, other than Supersonic (in February), I’m coming this October to your cities and I’m really excited to rock Mumbai, Delhi and Pune. So stay tuned and let’s rock it.
“I’m really excited as I’ll be having two visits in India. The people of the country have always given me so much love but yes, can’t really unveil anything about my new songs but there is a lot in store. I’m sure everyone will love it as much as they did to my latest tracks,” he added.
Last time, he praised Indian actress Priyanka Chopra and expressed a desire to meet her. In 2017, his song “No lie” got featured in her Hollywood film “Baywatch”. Did he get to meet her?
“I wish that desire came true but I didn’t get a chance to meet her as we were very packed. But being a part of ‘Baywatch’ itself means a lot. I would still say that I would love to meet her as she’s one of my favourites and I really like the way she performs,” he said about Priyanka, who has also sung songs like “In my city” and “Exotic”.
(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
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Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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